One should never discount the anguish of the Chinese for what happened at Nanjing in 1937. But I can't feel cynical whenever I go to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. For there have been other massacres perpetuated on the Chinese people since 1937 that don't, as yet (hopefully), have monuments or museums for tourists to visit. Of course, these massacres were perpetuated by the powers that currently be, so one cannot expect any memorials to the victims until a new dynasty comes to reign in China.
I have been to the Massacre Museum three times; most recently last month (August 2018). On the second and third visit, I had an impression of the museum always changing in tone. During my latest visit, I was thinking that the place was getting more maudlin. Of course, it could be my memory playing tricks on me or the fact that I went to the Museum in the high tourist time of August and never got a good look at any exhibits because the place so impossibly crowded that I immediately wanted to leave.
Walking into the museum last month, I had to pass these maudlin sculptures/statues that may have been added since my last visit. Maybe what the words said to have been uttered by the victims being depicted in the sculptures sounded right in Chinese but the Chinglish translations of the words were pathetic and undignified.
On my previous visit to the museum, I recalled that the path through the museum ended with a reconcilation display showing Japanese and Chicom leaders (like Chairman Mao and Chairman Deng) meeting, shaking hands and embracing as friends. I didn't see that this time. Instead, I saw a big, super-sharp photo of Chairman Xi making an important speech (that I remembered seeing the reports of) at the museum to mark the massacre's 70th anniversary.
The last thing I remember seeing before leaving the museum was a big fifty foot tall monument to "peace." Being in the PRC so long, I could only wonder what the idea of peace, of the powers who decided to erect the peace monument, was. I would have much preferred to see a momument to consideration for others. Peace in the PRC, seems to me, to mean not putting up a fuss about others' bad behavior.
